The Berlusconi Holocaust Joke That Infuriated the Vatican

Italian President Silvio Berlusconi has been publicly condemned by the
Vatican for telling a joke about Jews in the Holocaust. Berlusconi
reportedly told the joke at a recent private gathering for his 74th
birthday, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The newspaper
secured a video of the joke. The New York Times' Robert Mackey has the video and a rough translation:

The Italian leader can be
heard telling a joke about a Jew who admits that "during the time of the
death camps" he agreed to hide another Jew in his cellar but forced him
to pay more than $4,000 a day because "we are Jews." The joke’s punch
line, such as it is, involves the man asking his family if he should
finally admit to the man in his cellar that Hitler is dead and the war
is over.

The Vatican swiftly condemned the joke in official outlets. Ha'aretz's Saviona Mane reports,
"The Vatican journal and the Italian bishops' daily newsletter
yesterday condemned a 'Jewish joke' told by Italian Prime Minister
Sylvio Berlusconi on his birthday last week. ... 'This is an offense to
the sacred memory of six million victims of the Holocaust,' the Vatican
newspaper L'Osservatore Romano wrote. The Bishops newspaper Avvenire
also slammed Berlusconi."

The Vatican has had a complex history
with the Holocaust, which it did not recognize for years, and which it has since
apologized for not protesting. The current Pope, Benedict XVI, has
struggled to distance himself from the Hitler youth, into which he was
conscripted as a young boy.

As for Berlusconi, his particular brand of humor has landed him in hot water many times before, most recently when he made a joke about Hitler returning to power.